Several devices are known which seek to improve the performance of internal combustion engines by the injection of water or water vapor. Such devices incorporate a reservoir which requires frequency refilling and has the further disadvantage that the water in them is subject to freezing. Also, the reservoir may be filled with hard water or even dirty water, both of which can cause problems, and the possibility of dirty water necessitates a filter.
An especially good device is that shown in my co-pending patent application, Ser. No. 348,867, filed Feb. 16, 1982, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,548.
The present invention eliminates the need for a reservoir by providing means for recovering water from the engine exhaust gases, for these gases contain plenty of water. For example, water is produced by the combustion of octane or iso-octane, by the reaction: EQU 2C.sub.8 H.sub.18 +250.sub.2 .fwdarw.18H.sub.2 O+15CO.sub.2.
Gasoline, a blend of hydrocarbons, may be approximately represented as C.sub.8 H.sub.17, in which case the equation becomes: EQU 4C.sub.8 H.sub.17 +49O.sub.2 .fwdarw.34H.sub.2 O+32CO.sub.2.
A simple calculation shows that for each gallon of gasoline consumed, 0.95 gallons of water is produced.
The amount of water required per gallon of fuel in order to improve engine performances varies from device to device and depends on driving conditions. One such system is described in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,338. This system requires typically about 0.3 to 1 gallon of water for each 10 gallons of fuel burned. It is clear then, that the reservoir could be eliminated if only 10% of the water in the engine exhaust were made available. Moreover, the condensed water is distilled water--clean and certainly not hard.